Goal:

As Elliot stormed off Theo sighed and sat on my bed with his head in his hands.

"Crap. Crap. Crap." He muttered over and over. I frowned. Did he hear me? Did he storm off because he knows I like him?

Crap.

"He's going to be so mad." Theo muttered and I looked over at him. I felt my throat crack and I tried to clear it to get rid of the lump, but it didn't work. He really didn't like me back.

"At least I know he doesn't like me back now." I said and cursed myself when my voice came out wobbly. I don't know when I had got it into my head that he would like me back, but the reality that he didn't was a lot worse than I thought it would be.

"What?" Theo asked and I looked away from him as my lip wobbled. I couldn't cry, it was pathetic.

"Well he must have heard me say I like him, and he stormed off so-" I paused and took a deep breath. Theo's face softened and he stood up and put his arm around me.

"No, no. Don't cry Isla. It's not that!" He soothed and I looked up at him in confusion. "I don't think he stormed off because he doesn't like you Isla. I think he stormed off because he thinks you like me." Theo explained and I looked at him like he was crazy.

"What?" I asked.

"Well, depending on how long he was there for, he would have probably just heard you shout, 'I like you' and it would have seemed like you were saying it to me." He explained and I felt myself calm down a bit.

"But that's just stupid." I said and he nodded.

"Yeah. But how would you feel if you saw him saying he liked another girl?" Theo asked and I paused.

"What are you trying to say?" I asked, not quite comprehending the message he was trying to say.

"Go find him." Theo said.

And for some reason, I did.

/ / / /

As soon as I got downstairs Bridget sought me out and grabbed me by the arms.

"What has just happened? Why are you saying you like Theo?" She asked with her eyes wide. Jack was next to her and I sighed.

"It's all a big misunderstanding!" I exclaimed. "I was talking about liking him and he misread it. Where is he?" I pleaded. I needed to see him. I needed to explain. I didn't like Theo. Never in a million years.

I liked him.

And while I didn't want to tell him that, I didn't want him to think I liked Theo.

"No, explain to us first." Bridget ordered. "Calm down and explain."

I took a few deep breaths and sighed before I spoke.

"I was having a go at Theo for telling you guys and he tried to say he was helping, and I said 'what, helping me get my heart broken? Telling me to scream I like you?' and I think he must have just heard the end of it and thought I was taking to Theo!" I explained and Bridget nodded along. Jack looked confused but I wasn't bothered. He would catch up eventually.

"Ok. You need to calm down then, and then you need to go out there and you need to find him, and you need to tell him the truth."

"Yeah I will I-"

"No Isla." Bridget interrupted. She looked me straight in the eyes and I felt compelled to listen to her.

"All of it."

"I can't tell him all of it. I can't tell him I like him!" I exclaimed and she sighed.

"Why not?"

"Because he doesn't like me back!"

Bridget looked at Jack and sighed again.

"This girl." She muttered and shook her head. "Just go. And don't f**k it up." She ordered and I nodded. I ran upstairs to get some shoes on and once I had I raced out of houses. I realised I didn't know where he was, but I could assume.

My speedy walk to the stadium felt slower than it was. Despite having done it a few hundred times I felt like the 5-minute walk was taking 5 years and I couldn't wait to see him. I wasn't even sure if he would be there, but it was the most logical place I could think of. It was his home away from home.

When I got there, I couldn't see him at first, but it didn't take long before I spotted him in the corner smashing footballs into the goal in anger. I walked slowly up to him, across the wet mud, trying to think of what I would say to him. But everything I tried to say felt wrong.

It wasn't long before I reached him and as I stood there, watching him smash footballs into the goal in a pair of jogging bottoms and a t-shirt, I realised that I liked him more than I thought. I liked him so much that I got jealous, that it made me cry and that I wanted to kiss him. I liked him so much that when he got injured, I nearly ran onto the pitch, that when he told people we were together my heart fluttered and I went along with it, that when he compliments me I nearly faint.

I liked him so much that I nearly loved him.

He didn't notice I was there and eventually I got the courage to speak up.

"Elliot." He didn't hear me at first. "Elliot." I tried again. He kicked the football and spun around to face me. His face went hard, and his chest heaved from the running and kicking he had been doing.

"What do you want?" He asked glumly. His voice was deep and disappointed, and he turned around and booted another football.

"Elliot!" I exclaimed and walked so that I was in front of him and he couldn't turn away from me to kick another ball.

"If you've come to tell me in person, I don't want to hear it." He spat and my face fell.

"Elliot I-"

"You know. I thought we were friends." He cut me off and I fell quiet to listen. "I thought you knew. I thought you had enough respect for me to not go for my best friend. I let you meet my family, I took you with me as my fake girlfriend to that stupid f**king dinner, I let you stay in my f**king house and this is how you repay me? By getting with Theo?" He asked. He wasn't even shouting, his voice sounded broken, too broken to be angry. My face fell and I felt tears in my eyes.

I didn't want him to think that.

"Elliot it's not what you think!" I exclaimed and he laughed sarcastically.

"That's what they all say when they break your heart and get with your best friend." He said venomously, almost like he knew the feeling.

"I'm not with him!" I shouted and he stopped. He looked at me before he shook his head and laughed with no emotion.

"You're just like her. He told me you were, and I stuck up for you!" He exclaimed. He pointed a finger at me and the look on his face made me feel guilty. His voice was louder now, angrier.

"Elliot will you shut up for once and actually listen to me!" I shouted. I had never shouted at him, but I was tired of being accused without him listening. He paused before he opened his arms and laughed.

"Go on then."

"I'm not with Theo. I don't like Theo. I never have. I never will. You caught the wrong end of our conversation. I promise you, I have no romantic interest in him. We are just friends, and I was actually shouting at him for something, not telling him I liked him!" I explained and Elliot's face softened. "And although I don't like him, I don't like any of your friends, I don't like anyone. Why does it matter so much?" I asked weakly. I wasn't lying when I said I didn't like anyone. It was breaking my heart to watch him look so torn, but I didn't understand why. Elliot was quiet for a minute, staring at his feet before he shook his head.

"I don't think you'll ever get it, Isla." He muttered, turned around and booted another football into the goal.

"Elliot I-"

"No." He said sternly. He didn't even turn back around to look at me and with every moment that passed I could feel my heart breaking more and more.

"Please I-"

"Just go." He said quietly, refusing to turn around still. I didn't know what to do. I had tried to explain, tried to tell him the truth and he just didn't get it. What else could I do?

I slowly took a few steps back, waiting, praying that he would turn around and tell me not to go. But he didn't.

"So what?" I asked, my voice weak and wobbly. I could feel the tears in my eyes, and it wouldn't take long before I began to cry. "This is it? You want to leave it like this?" I asked and he still didn't turn around. I continued to walk slowly backwards and at the last minute he turned to face me. I stopped and when I saw the look on his face, I felt the lump in my throat intensify until I couldn't hold it any longer.

"Please, Isla. Just go." He said quietly, his voice breaking at the end. He turned back around before I could say anything else and I did the same, slowly walking back to houses with tears running down my face and a slightly broken heart.